9 Elements of a Productive Staff Retreat


Twice a year, our Children's Ministry staff goes on a retreat.  One is a two-day retreat that is held in July.  You can read about our summer retreat at this post.

The other retreat is held in January.  This is a one-day retreat.  Here are the elements that we incorporate into this retreat. 

Devotional and Prayer
We start off in God's Word and prayer.  It's important we prepare our hearts for what God wants to do in us and through us.  The prayer time usually consists of prayer stations.  This past retreat we had four prayer stations people could spend time at. 
  • Fresh wind of God's Spirit - We had a fan set up.  People could stand in front of the breeze and ask God's Spirit to blow afresh on their life.
  • Lend a hand - We had paper that people could trace their hand on and then write prayer requests inside the traced hand.  They could then spend time praying for the needs others had written in their traces.
  • Pictures of Christ - We had pictures of Christ looping on a screen.  People could sit and meditate on the images.
  • The Suffering of Christ - We had a bowl of ice available.  People could hold a piece of ice in their hand and be reminded of the suffering Christ endured for them.
 
Review of Previous Year
  • Goals - How did we do?
  • Stories - Each campus shares life stories about what God did.

Preview of Coming Year
  • Key events
  • Budget
  • Staffing
  • Goals

Team Building Activity

Lunch
We cater in a meal.  We also have snacks and drinks available throughout the day as well.

Leadership Development
Teaching on a topic that will help us grow as leaders.

Game
Fun is an important part of growing together as friends.

Initiatives 
We look at a key initiative we are preparing to implement.

Encouragement Activity / Closing Prayer Time
This is a prayer activity where we pray for each other.  This year we had everyone write prayer requests on a beach ball and then swapped them so we could pray for each others needs all year.

If you would like a copy of the agenda we used, feel free to contact me at dalehudsoncm2@gmail.com.

Below are also some pictures from the retreat two weeks ago.